Key events
Roland has emailed in and shares his thoughts on the team kits in the peloton:
In my very humble opinion, I think the Arkea and Cofidis jerseys are possibly the best of the bunch, due to their somewhat retro look (different coloured sleeves to the torso); even if it does use the Noddy colour scheme, the Lidl-Trek jersey has something about it too.
However, in my not at all humble opinion, no jersey can ever beat the fairly recent light blue Belgian national jerseys, although we obviously won’t be seeing them until the world championships.
I wasn’t behind my computer yesterday, but after reading your coverage, I have to admit I too was shouting unrepeatable things at the peloton before the caught the very brave MVDP.
16km to go: The breakaway have 5mins 3osecs on the peloton. The break is down to six riders now: Ben Healy, Ben O’Connor, Simon Yates, Thymen Arensman, Quinn Simmons and Michael Storer.
20km to go: Adam Yates has closed the gap to Sepp Kuss and Oscar Onley. Matteo Jorgenson attacks, Sepp goes again, Onley chases them down … and on and on it goes with the attacks.
21km to go: Poor Lenny Martinez has a nose bleed. Back in the peloton Visma-Lease a Bike have upped the pace, with Tiesj Benoot pushing it and Sepp Kuss on his wheel.
Tim Wellens (UAE Team Emirates XRG) is dropped. Kuss and Oscar Onley manage to open a gap. It’s all starting to kick off.
26km to go: Quinn Simmons attacks. The US national champion opened a gap but Ben Healy lead the chase, with Michael Storer on his wheel. Simmons has been reeled back in now.
29km to go: Ben O’Connor attacks again. Ben Healy and Michael Woods follow him. Healy pushes on and tries to get a gap from some of the other breakaway riders. He’s sweeping down the descents.
Quinn Simmons chases, with Michael Storer and Simon Yates. The attackers achieve about a 10sec gap but are caught.
33km to go: Victor Campenaerts and Joe Blackmore get back after they were dropped towards the summit of that last climb. There are now 13 riders in the breakaway and they have almost 6mins on the peloton.
David has been in touch about today’s breakaway and reckons Simon Yates is a strong bet for the stage win:
If you were in that lead group now 50km from the finish and you see Simon Yates sitting there, looking ridiculously fresh and relaxed, you will probably get a sense of impending doom and hopelessness. His to lose at this point.
41km to go: Victor Campenaerts gets out of the saddle and pushes up the next climb, the category three Col de la Croix-Morand (3.5km at 5.7%). Alex Baudin is dropped. Quinn Simmons takes over and then Ben Healy. Lenny Martinez can’t contest for the KOM points this time.
KOM results at Col de Guéry
1. Healy, 2 pts
2. Simmons, 1 pt
Here are some more pictures from today’s stage:
46km to go: Ben Healy attacks! But Ben O’Connor is on him straight away. He’s not been able to get away this time. It’s going to be tough as all eyes are on Healy given his previous success with solo breaks.
48km to go: Ben O’Connor has attacked again. But Ben Healy’s EF Education-EasyPost teammate Alex Baudin controls the move. Lenny Martinez has taken the maximum five KOM points on each climb so far today.
KOM results at Col de Guéry
1. L. Martinez, 5 pts
2. Healy, 3 pts
3. O’Connor, 2 pts
4. Simmons, 1 pt
50km to go: The breakaway are on the category two Col de Guéry. It’s 3.4km with an average gradient of 6.7%. Here comes Lenny Martinez to get some more KOM points!
54km to go: The average speed of the stage so far has been 38.4km/h. Oof, and that’s with four category two climbs covered. EF Education-EasyPost continue to drive the breakaway, which has almost 5mins on the peloton now.
59km to go: The 17 riders in the breakaway have 4mins 26secs on the peloton. EF Education-EasyPost are leading the way at the front – they have three riders in this group.
Over in the peloton, UAE Team Emirates-XRG are driving the bunch.
62km to go: In case you were wondering what the time cut off might be today, the Tour race centre has this explainer:
This stage has a coefficient of four. Finish time limits will be calculated based on the winner’s time, plus:
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9% if the average is less than or equal to 31 km/h
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10% above 31km/h up to 32km/h
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11% above 32km/h up to 33km/h
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12% above 33km/h up to 34km/h
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13% above 34km/h up to 35km/h
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14% above 35km/h up to 36km/h
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15% above 36km/h up to 37km/h
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16% above 37km/h up to 38km/h
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17% above 38km/h up to 39km/h
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18% Above 39km/h up to 40km/h
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19% above 40km/h
For example, if the stage is won at an average speed of:
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37km/h, the time limits will be 40 minutes and 13 seconds
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39km/h, the time limits will be 43 minutes and 14 seconds
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41km/h, the time limits will be 45 minutes and 58 seconds
67km to go: Raúl García Pierna is back in the breakaway. The green jersey group are 14mins and 38secs behind the break.
73km to go: Mauro Schmid, Luke Plapp and Raúl García Pierna have been dropped by the breakaway, which now consists of 16 riders.
Just as a reminder, the break consists of: Victor Campenaerts, Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike), Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-Quick Step), Ben Healy, Alex Baudin, Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious), Thymen Arensman (Ineos Grenadiers), Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ), Michael Storer (Tudor Pro Cycling), Ben O’Connor (Jayco-AlUla), Pablo Castrillo (Movistar), Michael Woods, Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) and Anders Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility). They have 3mins 40secs on the peloton.
Alistair has emailed from Lyon to say how much he’s enjoying stage 10:
I’m finding today’s stage very compelling – not only for the drama of the race, but because I have cycled most of these roads myself. One time, I was on a gravel track in the woods with my brother, he was visiting from New Zealand, and he said: “Is there a race track around here?”
I didn’t know it, but we emerged at Charade, where he had covered motorcycle races as a photographer in the 1970s. Yes we’re a bit senior.
That’s a cool story. Thank you for sharing! And kudos to you for having cycled parts of this route. It looks tough.
79km to go: Bruno Armirail, Julian Alaphilippe and Neilson Powless are chasing the breakaway and are about 50secs behind. In the peloton, Matis Louvel (Israel-Premier Tech) locked up coming round a corner but luckily he was near the back and managed to stay upright.
Apparently, Ben Healy is now the virtual yellow jersey leader.
81km to go: Two of the three EF Education-EasyPost riders in the breakaway have done a turn on the front and Tudor Pro Cycling’s Michael Storer is now doing his part.
Another interesting fact from the Tour race centre: The grandfather of Lenny Martinez, Mariano Martinez, won in Morzine on Bastille Day 45 years ago.
85km to go: The first chase group has joined the leaders and there are now 18 riders in the breakaway. Back in the peloton, Tim Wellens and Nils Politt set the pace, while Visma-Lease a Bike radioed its riders to warn that UAE Team Emirates XRG are speeding up.
Lenny Martinez has grabbed more KOM points.
KOM results at Côte de Berzet
1. L. Martinez, 5 pts
2. Woods, 3 pts
3. A. Johannessen, 2 pts
4. Sweeny, 1 pt
Euan is a “tad dissapointed” in the team kits this year. He emailed in to say:
Got to say I’m a tad disappointed in the team kits this year, with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s kit being the only team to have done anything different/interesting. In recent years EF’s TdF kit has been something of an occasion, but this year they seem to have just decided to stick with ‘bright pink and wiggly bits’.
The less said about Ineos’ efforts (or lack thereof) the better.
Personally, I was a bit confused by UAE Team Emirates XRG jersey which has a pattern on it which I think makes it looks as if it’s been ripped and/or covered in chain oil. Just me?
88km to go: The group of 10 mentioned in my previous post are ascending the Côte de Bert (3.4km at 7.4%). There’s a fan at the side of the road dressed in a shark costume and a shirtless man stood on something high, roaring and waving a French flag.
David has emailed in and neatly categorised his feelings on this year’s Tour:
Positives: I genuinely love stages like this. There’s multiple groups on the road, which makes it so exciting. Will the break stay away or fragment due to internal disputes, will the bunch catch them, and the final most important one is how close will the grupetto [be] to the time cut off?
Neutral: I think overall, after the early time trial, Pogačar has this. Everyone else has too much ground to make up now, and will work to consolidate second. Drop the individual time trials and this could have been a more electric competition.
Negative: France needs a rider to build a team around and a team with a budget.
91km to go: Ben O’Connor was caught after his attack earlier and was joined by Victor Campenaerts, Ben Healy, Lenny Martinez, Thymen Arensman, Quinn Simmons and Michael Woods. They’ve now got more company: Simon Yates, Valentin Paret-Peintre and Alex Baudin.
96km to go: The riders are now on the Charade race track. Very cool to see. Apparently it’s hosted four F1 grands prix.
Lenny Martinez is grabbing the KOM points today. Heading into the Côte de Charade, he’d already taken 15KOM points so far on this stage.
KOM results at Côte de Charade
1. L. Martinez, 5 pts
2. Woods, 3 pts
3. Arensman, 2 pts
4. Simmons, 1 pt
99km to go: There’s less than 100km left to go and the third climb of the day will be shortly upon the riders. It’s another category two. The Côte de Charade is 5.1km with an average gradient of 6.8%. After failing to spot Michael Woods in the breakaway, Carlton Kirby describes the Israel-Premier Tech jersey as looking like “an explosion in a smoothie factory”.
How do we rate the jerseys? Any favourites?
101km to go: Jayco-Alula’s Ben O’Connor has attacked again. He’s gone off up the road and now has about 20secs on the group behind, AKA the poursuivants. The peloton are 2mins behind them.
The crowds have come out for Bastille Day and the Tour de France riders:
109km to go: French rider Lenny Martinez is first at the summit of the Côte de la Baraque and takes five KOM points, putting him in the virtual lead for the polka dot jersey.
About 1min 40secs behind, Nils Politt (UAE Team Emirates) sets the pace for the peloton up the climb, while teammate Pavel Sivakov is dropped.
KOM results at Côte de la Baraque
1. L. Martinez, 5 pts
2. A. Johannessen, 3 pts
3. Woods, 2 pts
4. Armirail, 1 pt
112km to go: Brian brings up something I’d been thinking about. EF Education-EasyPost have a strong showing in the beakaway. Brian asks:
EF with four in breakaway, another Ben Healy special on the cards?
The four are Ben Healy, Neilson Powless, Alex Baudin and Harry Sweeney. Out of those four, Healy and Powless would be the ones you’d expect to be targeting the win as they’re both good climbers and breakaway riders.
114km to go: It’s about 4km until the next climb: the category two Côte de La Baraque. It’s 4.8km with an average gradient of 7.4%. There’s KOM points to be taken at the summit. The 29-strong breakaway still have 2mins on the chasing bunch.